1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to a surgical apparatus for use during anastomosis procedures. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to methods and apparatus to deliver an anvil assembly to a surgical site.
2. Description of the Related Art
Surgical anastomosis is the surgical connection of severed or separate of hollow organs. Typically, an anastomosis procedure follows another surgical procedure where a diseased or defective section of hollow tissue is removed and the remaining end sections are joined. The end sections may be joined by circular, end-to-end, or side-to-side organ reconstruction methods.
In a circular anastomosis procedure, the two ends of the organ sections are joined by means of a stapling instrument that drives a circular array of staples through the end section of each organ section and simultaneously cores any tissue interior of the driven circular array of staples to free the tubular passage. Examples of instruments for performing circular anastomosis of hollow organs are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,168,604; 6,053,390; 5,588,579; 5,119,983; 5,005,749; 4,646,745; 4,576,167; and 4,473,077, each of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. Typically, these instruments include an elongated shaft having a handle portion at a proximal end to actuate the instrument and a staple holding component disposed at a distal end. An anvil assembly including an anvil rod with an attached anvil head is mounted to the distal end of the instrument adjacent the staple holding component. Opposing end portions of tissue of the hollow organ(s) to be stapled are clamped between the anvil head and the staple holding component. The clamped tissue is stapled by driving one or more staples from the staple holding component so that the ends of the staples pass through the tissue and are deformed by the anvil head. An annular knife is concurrently advanced to core tissue within the hollow organ to free a tubular passage within the organ.
Certain circular anastomosis procedures entail minimally invasive techniques. In these procedures, surgeons often position an anvil assembly in the desired hollow organ by inserting an anvil delivery system through a patient's esophagus. U.S. Pat. No. 7,179,267, for example, describes a method and apparatus for delivering an anvil assembly through a patient's esophagus. Although surgical apparatus that can deliver an anvil assembly into a hollow organ are well-known in the art, there is a need for more versatile anvil delivery systems.